Tennent’s Irish Cup final: Cliftonville v Coleraine (today, Windsor Park, 2.30pm)
COLERAINE boss Oran Kearney has mentioned quite a number of times that the bitter experience of losing last season's Irish Cup final to Linfield was worth “30 or 40 appearances” to his players.
Cup final experience does matter.
Only the few get a shot at redemption. The Coleraine players are in that small, lucky minority where they’ve only had to wait 12 months to right the wrongs of that Linfield defeat.
No Coleraine player did themselves justice last May. Kearney knows that his players won’t play as badly this afternoon.
One of the big imponderables is how well they’ve recovered from finishing an agonising second to Crusaders a week ago in a dramatic climax to the title race.
The Crues, in fairness, were always favoured to win the Gibson Cup after they avoided defeat against the Bannsiders in their vital league clash in early April.
The Crues did stumble a few times after that and gave Coleraine hope – but that’s ultimately all it was.
So, perhaps the mental recovery process wasn’t too difficult especially with an Irish Cup final ahead of them.
There wasn’t a trace of self-pity emanating from the Coleraine camp this week with Kearney insisting that the outcome of today’s final will determine whether their season has been a success or failure.
Lyndon Kane (broken foot) is a huge loss at right back while the Bannsiders will miss Josh Carson’s unpredictability in the final third and free-taking expertise.
Likewise, the Reds have a few defensive issues of their own.
The reliable Gary Breen-Jamie Harney central defensive axis has been broken up of late due to a knee injury to Breen.
Although the former Portadown player played a half against Linfield last weekend, it is still a risk to start him after a five-week absence.
In terms of team selection, Reds boss Barry Gray has a bit more to mull over than Kearney.
The cup final pain of 2013 still lingers for a small band of the Cliftonville players while a number of Reds teams seemed haunted rather than motivated in trying to equal the ‘Spirit of ‘79’.
The Reds haven’t beaten Coleraine in four attempts this season - but Gray isn’t short of match-winners in Joe Gormley and Rory Donnelly.
This cup final is anybody’s game, the classic 50-50.
Coleraine look the better oiled of the two finalists, while Cliftonville possess the mercurial quality to win a one-off game.
There just appears to be less mistakes in the Coleraine ranks – and that could be the difference at sunny Windsor Park today.
PATHS TO THE FINAL
Cliftonville
Round Five: Cliftonville 4-3 Warrenpoint Town (aet)
Round Six: Cliftonville 4-1 Crusaders
Quarter-finals: Linfield 0-1 Cliftonville
Semi-finals: Cliftonville 4-1 Loughgall
Coleraine
Round Five: Coleraine 7-0 Lisburn Distillery
Round Six: Coleraine 4-0 Institute
Quarter-finals: Coleraine 1-0 Glentoran
Semi-finals: Coleraine 3-1 Larne
League meetings…
Tuesday August 15: Coleraine 2-0 Cliftonville
Coleraine goals: Josh Carson (50) Jamie McGonigle (63)
Saturday October 22: Cliftonville 1-2 Coleraine
Cliftonville goal: Rory Donnelly (21)
Coleraine goals: David Ogilby (10), Joe McCready (48)
Saturday December 30: Cliftonville 0-0 Coleraine
Saturday April 7: Coleraine 2-1 Cliftonville
Coleraine goals: Stephen Dooley (71) Jamie McGonigle (88 pen)
Cliftonville goal: Jay Donnelly (36)
Last 10 previous winners
2016/17 - Linfield
2015/16 - Glenavon
2014/15 - Glentoran
2013/14 - Glenavon
2012/13 - Glentoran
2011/12 - Linfield
2010/11 - Linfield
2009/10 - Linfield
2008/09 - Crusaders
2007/08 - Linfield